Victory in Seattle Inspires Chicago Socialist Campaign

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Nearly 100 people met at the Jane Addams Hull House Museum on Wednesday, January 22 for the founding meeting of the Chicago Socialist Campaign. (Isaac Silver)

If a socialist can win an election in Seattle, why not Chicago? That was the spirit at the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Jane Addams Hull House Museum on Wednesday night, where close to 100 Chicagoans gathered for the founding meeting of the Chicago Socialist Campaign.

Drawing on the example of Seattle’s Kshama Sawant—who in November became the first socialist in recent memory elected to a city council—the campaign seeks to run a socialist candidate for alderman in Chicago’s 2015 city council race. Activists also plan to use the electoral effort to amplify the demands of popular movements in Chicago, such as the call for a $15 minimum wage.

Inspired by Sawant’s victory, Chicago organizers first held an impromptu meeting last month to gauge interest in a similar effort in the Windy City. They emerged with a vision statement that calls for building a “people-centered” movement to “make real and lasting change” to the system.

On Wednesday, they turned to fine-tuning that vision statement and discussing organizing and campaigning plans. The biggest question, of course, is who to choose as a candidate. The campaign plans to begin by deciding where to run a candidate, as aldermen must reside in their own ward. By February, the research committee plans to have identified four wards conducive to electing a socialist candidate based on community support and incumbent vulnerability. One ward will be ratified by vote in a February open meeting.

Attendees expressed belief that a suitable candidate would arise organically from grassroots organizing. But organizers did identify the type of candidate they hope for—a socialist who would represent a multitude of community voices.

Ervin Lopez, a local teacher and community organizer, noted that the movement was seeking to represent a population that wasn’t necessarily in the room. “Right away my first observation was that it seems like another predominately white-Left socialist group,” Lopez said of the event, adding that local labor and activist leaders from the South and West Sides of the city weren’t present.

The Chicago campaign is also seeking an independent socialist candidate—someone without a socialist party affiliation. In doing so, it is making an important departure from the Seattle model, where Sawant ran as a member of the Socialist Alternative party. Chicago is home to many existing socialist organizations and independent socialists who, organizer Isaac Silver believes, must be brought together to achieve operational unity.

Organizers hope to have a candidate by late spring, but the deadline is Aug. 26, 2014, when the campaign can officially begin collecting signatures for the ballot. A minimum of 473 valid signatures is needed to gain ballot access. Campaign organizers aim to secure at least four times that many, while also registering new voters, whom they see as key to the movement because many potential supporters do not vote for either major party.

The sense that the major political parties had failed to represent the masses pervaded the room on Wednesday. Organizer Eugene Lim said the campaign was not just about winning office, but reclaiming the word “socialist” to mean those who fight for the proletariat and the disenfranchised. “If we go forward in those arenas,” he says, “We have won.”

Jorge Mujica (pictured in the front row of the photo of this article) is running as a candidate of the Chicago Socialist Campaign. Find out more and volunteer or donate at www.votemujica.org

Posted by Isaac Silver on 2014-05-01 16:28:22

Please take this with the comradely spirit with which it's intended: What's the long-term plan here? I see the potential elevation of a platform and maybe a small win or too, but not much else. The Panthers ran candidates, but with a strong organization backing them and when they did it, they did it as a tactic, not a strategy in and of itself. I don't see an organization, a long-term plan, or a goal to do much more than rehabilitate the term socialist (unless this is intended to lay the groundwork for a left regroupment project...). Otherwise, you may be able to win once, but the next time around the business community will pour money into the ward to push whatever candidate you win out again. I'm open to the possibility of this, but my concern is pulling time, money, and resources away from other types of local organizing.

Posted by Rosa on 2014-02-12 01:39:50

The word " socialist" is non longer a big obstacle. When Obama was called a socialist, his ratings went up. Nearly 100,000 voted for Sawant in Seattle. Opinion polls, the Rasmussen poll and others have shown that since the Great Recession , socialism is much more supported. In the earliest Rasmussen poll on this topic,20% of the general population supported socialism over capitalism. Among young people support for socialism and capitalism were about even. Since then , polls have tilted even more toward socialism. AND people will vote for a socialist , even if they don't personally identify as socialist. It is time to be more clear about what we want and not shy away from the word socialist!

Posted by Steve Leigh on 2014-01-27 17:33:03

Yet the socialist movement inside the USA itself is a product of misinformation, lies, brainwashing, and fantasy.

Posted by Shelter Somerset on 2014-01-26 08:04:45

You left out mention of the Socialist Party.

Posted by Art Kazar on 2014-01-25 16:48:55

Yes, I would like to similar coalitions emerge all around the county. Seattle, Minneapolis, Syracuse, all show that if we act confidently, run to win, organize together we can raise the resources, involve many time the people who now make up the left, and even win. This is an interesting tactic (but not a long range strategy) it can raise lots of important issues that are just never taken seriously when we don't take ourselves seriously and just run propaganda campaigns. They seem to have taken this very seriously and are doing a lot of pre-campaign work - looking at the political landscape, trying to raise lots of very good questions before hand, and most importantly involving everyone (both independents and socialist groups) and ally the groups who have worked together in the past (sorry PSL, WWP, CPUSA and others). I am sure this could have lots of good response from like minded groups and independent around the the rest of the country- New York just had a very successful event, Philadelphia has one scheduled next month, and it seems to be spreading fast.

Posted by Bruce N. Haskin on 2014-01-25 12:33:49

There needs to be similar initiatives all over the country. It is issues, not ideology, which should serve to unite liberals, progressives and leftists. We shall see if left-wing Chicagoans can achieve this level of unity.

Posted by Alan L. Maki on 2014-01-25 11:10:20

I'm curious as to why the author didn't mention the campaign just recently announced by the PSL for city council in Chicago. There are now at least 2 campaigns for socialist city council members so it would seem that both campaigns should be discussed and supported.

Posted by KurtFF8 on 2014-01-25 08:57:27

They should run a candidate from each organization represented within this coalition in a number of seats. The candidates all agreeing to an electoral platform, but their own organizations still being free to critique others.

Posted by Fallbreaker on 2014-01-25 07:58:55

James Smith, I think that would be a mistake. Polls show young people see socialism as positive, and it certainly didn't hurt Kshama Sawant in Seattle!

Posted by Richard Brenner on 2014-01-25 07:31:39

I hope they don't screw this up. First, they should not pick a progressive alderman to take down. That would split the left-center base needed to win. Second, they need to be sensitive to race, ie, don't run a white against a minority alderman in a majority minority ward. That would also split the left-center base.

But if they can avoid these two pitfalls, they can win. I suggest studying the early days of the 46th Ward and the Heart of Uptown Coalition for a few dos and don'ts.

Posted by Carl Davidson on 2014-01-25 06:39:54

Socialists in the USA would do better to choose another name. Almost all Americans have been taught that socialism and communism are the same thing. Thank you Senator McCarthy for one more hate-filed lie foisted upon the American public.

Posted by James Smith on 2014-01-25 06:39:26

Yes, yes, yes!!!

Posted by ProfKoolhouse on 2014-01-24 23:27:14

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